Top News #2: Daschle (and others) drop out due to tax "problems"

The Obama Administration had a number of woes this week, several of which stemmed from the recurring issue of potential cabinet appointees' "tax problems."

No less than three persons selected by President Barack Obama for top cabinet positions faced high-level scrutiny relating to previously unpaid taxes: first, Timothy Geithner, the nominee for Treasury secretary, was found to owe $34,000 in back taxes. That was followed by Tom Daschle, who would have been placed at the top of Health and Human Services. His lapse: $128,000. Finally, Nancy Killefer, who was nominated to be a deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget and would have been the administration's chief performance officer, withdrew her name after her own concerns about tax-related scrutiny.

After all of President Obama's rehtoric about "out with the old, in with the new", we seem to be stuck with more of the old failing in new positions.

The story, which I read from multiple sources, including the Associated Press, was summed up rather well by Donald Lambro in his commentary in The Washington Times: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/05/tax-dodge-depot/

The relevence of this story lies in the recurrence of common problems in high officials, even when those officials are policy makers affecting regular citizens with punitive measures for those same problems.

The tone has been increasingly critical; it would appear that the honeymoon period for the new administration is fading away like the savings of many American citizens.